I also owed Fiona a call to let her know she could halt the cookie dough, wine, and ice cream brigade she was currently preparing. It was her weekend with Terrence, but since she’s the best friend a girl could have, she had been checking in with me and was planning to stop by tonight before Terrence arrived.
“We’re heading out back to take some measurements if that’s okay,” Nate said, stacking the papers and rising from his chair.
“Of course. But, Rocco, you’re getting ready for bed in half an hour.”
“Aw, man, can’t I stay up later since Nate’s here?” my kid asked, just like any other five-year-old would when presented with the opportunity to do something fun with a friend. No nose twitching, no shyness, no worried look in his big brown eyes. It seemed Nate was in, and I didn’t care one bit that he was thirty-one instead of five.
“Just because we’re building this treehouse doesn’t mean I’m ignoring your house. I think tomorrow I’ll go up on your roof to check things out. I’m also taking a look in your attic,” Nate said as we were saying our goodbyes later in the evening.
“Are those euphemisms? I love it when you talk dirty,” I said, trying to keep a straight face.
“They can be.” He flashed a naughty grin. “But actually, I’m just giving you advance warning. I believe your attic access is in your bedroom closet and I wouldn’t want to have to turn you over to one of those cable TV shows, if you know what I mean.”
Shitballs! My secret wasn’t so secret anymore. “Please don’t tell me you’ve seen my closet.”
“Okay, I won’t tell you.”
Double shitballs! My fingers started itching to do a little cheek rubbing. Nate grabbed both my hands before they could reach my face.
“I’ve decided to find your ‘storage system’ cute instead of scary.”
“Oh God, you’re probably one of those people who doesn’t even have a junk drawer, aren’t you?”
That was met with silence. Who was this guy? Oh, that’s right, I forgot—he’s Superman’s brother. Superheroes don’t have junk drawers.
“I have four junk drawers,” I confessed.
He nodded slowly. “And, like I said, it’s cute. I think. But I had to give you fair warning about the closet since I’ll need to fit a ladder in there tomorrow.”
He finally released my hands and I used one to smack him on the arm. “Haha. It’s not that bad, you big jerk.”
Nate’s back rested against the wall by my front door. Rocco was safely tucked into bed—for the moment at least—but after the near miss with the little night stalker last time, neither Nate nor I were willing to enter the bedroom tonight. At this rate, we’d never get to do the dirty.
He pulled me in for an embrace. “I’m picking up lumber on the way over tomorrow so I’ll be here about ten o’clock. And, Laney, we’ve got to figure out how to have a real date night one of these days.” He growled and gave me a sweet kiss. I wanted to drag him back down the hall and have my naughty way with him, so I was already flipping through my mental rolodex to figure out how to organize some extended alone time for us.
“Definitely. I’ll get to work on it.” I smiled and kissed him back. My kiss may have been a little less sweet than his.
Well, it looked like I owed my vagina an apology. Before I could even ask Gavin to babysit I went and pissed him right the hell off, removing any possibility that he’d grant me a favor anytime soon. And the worst part was I thought I was doing something nice.
“Not interested,” Gavin said over his shoulder as he tried to walk away.
“What do you mean? You’re the perfect person for this, and it’s just one night a week and one game on the weekends.”
“I don’t care, I’m not doing it! And stay the fuck out of my business, Laney!” He hitched his workout bag onto his shoulder and stormed out the door before I could stop him. That went well.
It was Saturday mid-morning and Charlotte had dropped by earlier to give me a plant she foolishly assumed I wouldn’t kill. Yeah … anyway, during the course of our conversation she mentioned that Aiden was signed up for rec league baseball and the coach had just dropped out. She asked if I knew of anyone who could fill in—her husband not being available since he traveled a lot for work. And, in her words, “He’s about as athletic as a basset hound in a patch of sunshine.” Sometimes I just loved the crap out of her Texas. So, naturally, I told her about Gavin. It was like kismet, or so I’d thought. Apparently, it was more like the worst misfortune to hit Greensboro, so fierce was Gavin’s dismissal of the idea. Now he was pissed and I was evidently never having sex for the rest of my life.
Nate showed up at ten o’clock as promised. He and Rocco were out back doing lord knows what, but it seemed like each time I peeked out the window they both had their hands on their hips and were gazing up at the tree in deep thought. This project might take a while.
I still couldn’t quite believe this guy was so interested in me—truthfully, I didn’t really feel like I had that much to offer. I knew if Fiona had been here she would have smacked me upside the head for talking trash about myself, but it was hard sometimes to keep a super confident attitude. I’d just have to go with it, though, because I wasn’t about to give up a chance to be with somebody who made me feel the way Nate did.
I couldn’t help but peek out the window again, and this time I was treated to the view of his cargo pants stretched tightly over his backside as he leaned down to lift a stack of wood. Damn that man could make me swoon.
Back to closet cleaning, Laney! Focus!
A few hours later Nate and Rocco retreated inside to escape the hot afternoon sun. I was fixing us some cool drinks while Rocco washed up in the bathroom when my front door slammed so hard the windows rattled. I thought maybe it was Gavin and he hadn’t gotten over his hissy fit, but it was Fiona’s petite form that came storming into the kitchen, stopping a few feet from me.
Her purse landed on the counter with a loud thwack, likely reducing its contents to dust. “I’m staying over tonight and I won’t take no for an answer! I’m going to eat all your ice cream and watch tragically stupid teenagers on reality TV while you, my friend, are going over to your hot man’s apartment and getting your muffin buttered.” She pointed a threatening red-tipped finger at me. “I do not want to see your face until at least noon tomorrow and it had better look well-fucked. At least one of us should have an orgasm tonight and it sure as hell won’t be me! Now tell Rocco his Aunt Fiona is inviting him to an ice cream party tonight and he can stay up as late as he wants.”
When I didn’t move she threw both hands out toward me. “Shoo!” I still didn’t move. This was “scary” Fiona—she didn’t come out to play very often.
“Uh, Fiona, you remember Nate, don’t you?” I motioned hesitantly to the pantry door where my “hot man” had been spraying WD-40 on the hinges but now stood stock still, the can suspended in his frozen hand.
Fiona didn’t even flinch. “Hey there, hot stuff. You get all that?”
Nate just nodded slowly while the rest of him remained still.
“Can you please excuse us for a moment, Nate?” I asked as I dragged Fiona down the hall to my bedroom and closed the door.
“First of all, you can’t come in here throwing out f-bombs while Rocco’s at home and you know it. Second, I can’t even believe you just said all of that in front of Nate. Just … oh God.” I covered my eyes with my hand.
She huffed in dismissal.
I took a deep breath and shook it off. “And third, what happened? I thought you were doing sexy time with Terrence.”
She scoffed. “Don’t even talk to me about Terrence.” And then she proceeded to talk about him anyway, as pretty much any girl would do. “What about ‘friends with benefits’ does he not understand? That man wants to, and I quote, ‘take things to the next level.’ What next level?! There is no next level! So I sent him to his hotel and told him that until he gets his head screwed on straight he needs to lose my number. I can’t go back to my place in case he decides to show up to plead his case again.” She did a full body shiver. Dramatic much?
“Wow,” was really all I could say, though. Treading carefully here was essential. Fiona did not do commitment. She didn’t do the girlfriend thing. She was kind of like a guy that way, but every other aspect of her was all girly-girl. I knew she had her reasons so I’d given up trying to convince her to give a guy a chance. But this was Terrence. They would be so good together. Ugh. I’d have to let it go for now, but hopefully she’d open the door a crack for him if he just gave her a little time. So, it looked like I’d have to give her a little time too. “I’m sorry, Fee.” I gave her a hug and she finally let go of her mad a bit and sagged into my arms with a sigh.
“I know. Me too. Can I still eat your ice cream?”
“Every bit,” I said, still holding her tight, my chin resting on the top of her head.
“You know, you really do have a great rack. It’s like the best goose-down pillows in here.” She tried to snuggle in.
I shoved her away. “You perv.”
So it looked like the sex fates did like me a little bit after all. I’d gotten my sitter, although I would have preferred not to have involved Fiona’s heart in the process. Nate, I could safely say, was even more thrilled than I was when I told him the news. And it seemed Fiona couldn’t get us out the door fast enough. I barely had time to say goodbye to Rocco and elicit a promise from Fiona that more than just ice cream would be served for dinner.
“I need to stop by my place and take a shower, but then do you want to go out to dinner?” We were in Nate’s truck and my nerves were jumping already.
“Sure, sounds good, but I’m not dressed for anything fancy.” I motioned down to my casual black shorts and blue t-shirt.